Doctor of Philosophy

Designed for high performing university graduates, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a postgraduate research degree with a supervised project of original research at its core. Develop high level independent research skills while making an original contribution of knowledge to a specific discipline or area of practice.

As a JCU PhD candidate, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake focused research in the tropics. You’ll explore and generate new knowledge to meet the social, environmental and sustainability challenges facing tropical communities.

Create new knowledge, transform your future.

Work closely with experienced advisors to identify a research question, design and implement a project, analyse the results and document the research as a thesis. The PhD generally has no required coursework, although some can be taken as an option.

Manage your project challenges and timeline pressures with structured milestones built into the program. Benefit from professional development activities, participate in international conferences and publish your work along the way.

View the Handbook for a detailed overview of available subjects.

JCU Doctor of Philosophy graduates are internationally recognised as experts who discover valuable new knowledge in their fields.

The future for PhD graduates is diverse. The skills you develop during your PhD allow you to gain a toolkit for theoretical and practical approaches to problems and innovation with social and commercial impact. This will allow you to take on leadership roles across industry, government and academic sectors in a range of roles and contexts including researcher, practitioner, and research manager.

The table below can be used to view course information for each individual specialisation in the Doctor of Philosophy.

JCU, with the support of the Australian Government’s Research Training Program, will cover the costs of tuition fees for Australian citizens/permanent residents and New Zealand citizens.

All candidates can also apply for a competitively-awarded stipend to help with living and tuition costs.

A Student Services and Amenities fee is payable per subject up to a maximum amount per year.

Entry into a Doctor of Philosophy degree requires a Bachelor’s Degree with at least Honours 2A, a postgraduate qualification with a supervised research component of at least one semester full time equivalent or a Master of Philosophy.

To be eligible for entry, applicants must have attained at least one of the following:

a) a Bachelor’s degree with at least Second Class, Division A (Honours) in a degree program that included a total of at least a semester of supervised project work, the results of which contributed to the Honours grade;

b) a postgraduate qualification which included: (a) supervised research component(s) of at least one semester or equivalent and resulted in the production of output(s) graded at the equivalent of Distinction or better, and (b) at least one research methods subject;

c) a Research Masters degree, where at least two thirds of the degree consisted of a supervised research component and resulted in the production of a thesis or equivalent;

d) enrolment at this or another Australian university in a higher degree by research for the equivalent of at least 0.5 EFTSL with demonstrated satisfactory performance in the supervised research component(s);

e) a combination of qualifications, research training and experience, considered equivalent to the above by the Dean of the College to which the Candidate is applying, e.g., senior authorship of at least one peer-reviewed publication plus completion of an appropriate research methods subject.

Visit the Graduate Research School website for more information, and then complete an online application through our Online Application Portal.